Sunday, 26 February 2012

Almond Valley

During half term I took the little one off to Heritage Centre at Almond Valley. It's part museum, part farm, and part children's playground. A perfect place for a 4 year old to run around - or so I thought. She was too cold and so spent ages inside the museum which shows a lot of the farming / mining history of the area. It was pretty cool seeing the large mill with it's grinding stone and waterwheel up close.

We walked around looking at animals and loved the tiny horses but were a bit phased by the chickens from the wartime garden. They are allowed to wander free but I think the little one would have preferred to have them locked up in cages. Some of the animals were not around as I think the farm moves them when the weather is too cold but it was fun trying to hunt them down.
Another part of the park had a shed with rabbits and other furry creatures. Those rabbits were HUGE - some of them are for sale (hopefully as pets rather than food). Can you tell I'm not used to being around animals.
The centre also has the coolest trampolines laid into the ground. I wanted to have a go but as they were full of little kids, didn't think it would have been appropriate. There is also a giant bouncy mound for older children which again looks fun apart from the little tykes who were chucking sand in eachother's faces.
There are also mini tractors which are fabulous and luckily for me, hard to manoeuvre else she would have been off like a shot. And once again, older children are catered for too with a separate track and large wheeled toys for them to run around in.
On this visit we didn't visit the cafe but I am sure I will in future. I will also not use my sat nav to get there as on this visit, it kept trying to tell me to drive down a no-through road!
The cost was a little high at £5 for adults and £3 for children however, if I was going to go regularly, I'd get an annual membership.